Essays and commentaries from Malaysia's foremost thinker and philosopher

Saturday, June 10, 2017

GOD'S BOUNDARIES

GOD'S BOUNDARIES

By: Kassim Ahmad

11 June, 2017

The Quran mentions the phrase God's boundaries several times. Since Man
first appeared in the world a million years ago, the world changed in
accordance with his wishes, mistakes or no mistakes. In another
location, I have written about the many mistakes man makes. When the
last of the prophet-messengers was sent to the world between 610-632
A.D. -- he was called by God, "a mercy to the world", because he
delivered the profound Quran to the wold. In fact, the Quran is said to
be the "words of a noble messenger". When he received the Quran, he was
under inspiration. Inspiration equals revelation.

It was reported that Muhammad had 40 writers. Whenever a revelation
came to him, those present of the 40 writers, including himself, would
write down the Quran. The tradition the he was illiterate is false,
since he was sent by a prominent and rich lady in Mecca (Khatijah) later
to be married to him, to trade. A businessman must be able to count
and therefore read and write. His companions, Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman and
Ali were litertate Khatijah later proposed to him and lived a happy
monogamous happy marriage of 25 years.

The phrase "God's boundaries" does not refer to what some Muslim
scholars called "fixed punishments" A crime takes place under all sorts
of circumstances. A man may steel money to buy milk for his daughter.
One cannot punish this man as he can a habitual robber. The phrase
refers to an action that is balanced. A person must eat; but he should
not overeat He must sleep, but he cannot oversleep. He must work, but
he cannot overwork, and so on. That is what it means

It is amazing how scholars can err. Therefore never deify so-called
great people. Use your critical thinking. God gives you a mind that is
placed at the top of your person, and covered in a hard cover. Think!

About Me

(About Kassim Ahmad
By: M. Bakri Musa)
Kassim Ahmad is Malaysia's foremost thinker and philosopher. He grabbed national headlines in the 1950s with his dissertation on the characters of Hang Tuah (Perwatakan Hang Tuah), the Malay literary classic. In it he challenged the traditional interpretation and made the hitherto hero Hang Tuah as nothing more than a palace hack, and elevated the anti-hero Hang Jebat as the true hero, willing to kill even the sultan in defence of honor and principles.
Kassim was jailed for nearly five years under the ISA for daring to express openly his political views, an experience which he recounted in his book, Universiti Kedua (Second University).
Kassim again shook the Malay world with his "Hadith: A Re-Examination" in which he challenges the infallibility of the purported words of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Except for an honorary doctorate in Letters conferred by the National University of Malaysia, the country has not seen fit to honor this great public intellectual.
June 2005